the beach 2013

we are lucky. chris's parents own a condo in Panama City Beach and they let us stay there every summer. I blogged about last years beach trip here, when d was just 6 months old. this years trip was a BLAST! we had so much fun and made some amazing memories as a family.

we had a great car ride down to florida. we bought d a dvd player for the car and downloaded a bunch of his favorite shows on a thumb drive. I sat in the back with him to keep him entertained and we played with flashcards and stickers and ate snacks. it went surprisingly smooth on the way there and the way back. the week we went down there were some awful storms. in fact, it rained on our entire drive down and that night. but every day after that we had nothing but sunshine.

we kept d on a similar routine. they are an hour behind us so we pushed bedtime later so he wouldn't be up so early. it worked. we would get up around 8am, eat breakfast at the condo, pack our cooler and beach supplies and walk down to the sand. d loved the water, the sand, the birds, everything! he especially loved snacks. I was worried with how active he was being that he wasn't getting enough to eat/drink so anytime he asked for something I jumped at the chance to fuel him. we hung out at the beach each day till after lunch, then came back to the condo to clean up and take a nap. sometimes we went out to the pool after nap time, and a couple of times we went out. we went to the big dog track, we walked the huge pier, went shopping and went out to eat. back home for bed around 8/8:30 every night. 

one of my favorite things was when chris took us to an arcade that he went to as a kid. his parents bought the condo when he was 8 years old, so he has a ton of memories 'growing up' at the beach in the summers. it was so sweet watching him try to show d how to play skeeball. hahahaha!

after our week at the condo, we headed to visit our friends in st. pete. I wont post a ton of pictures of their sweet baby girl since I didn't ask them if I could but let me tell you... she is the sweetest little thing! d loved her and kept trying to give her hugs and show us where her 'eyes' were. the guys played golf and the girls hung out with the babies all morning. swapping mommy stories and sharing advice. it was a much needed time with great friends.